Goodbye to Qantas Any Time Lounge Access

[Bundy Bear]

29 JAN 2011

Qantas had a nice Platinum(Oneworld Emerald) perk which meant you could visit the Qantas lounges in Australia without having to fly Qantas that day. You could even use the perk to fly with another airline and use the Qantas lounge before your Virgin Blue flight. That situation was usually rare and you would normal only use the lounge when you were seeing friends off at the airport who would be flying Qantas but didn’t have the status for lounge access. You wouldn’t just go to the airport to drink the free alcohol and eat some of the food as the airport parking chargers usually made this uneconomical.

In October 3 months after I reached Qantas Platinum(Oneworld Emerald) Qantas removed the anytime access so that you had to be flying Qantas that day to access the lounge. It was decided we should all go to our respective lounges and have a few drinks to say good bye to Qantas any time lounge access.

I don’t usually want to go to the airport by myself to have a few drinks and someone suggested we should cover more than 1 airport. I set up a schedule which was BNE-SYD on Virgin Blue, followed by SYD-MEL on Jetstar(International) followed with an overnight, and then a trip on Virgin Blue to Canberra connecting to Virgin Blue flight back to Brisbane.

In the end about 20 people joined us on the Sydney to Melbourne Jetstar flight, this was always going to remain a flight where you could access the lounge but most people flew on Virgin Blue as the return sector.

BNE-SYD DJ932 DEP 9:00AM 737-700 VH-VBA SEAT 7A

I got a lift to the airport at 6:30am, my flight was at 9:00am but I got in early and got the later flight, but the one giving me the lift was catching the 8:00am Virgin Blue departure. As we had both checked in the night before we could head through security and go to the Qantas lounge for breakfast where we met up with 3 other travelers. There would be 5 traveling to Sydney on Virgin Blue but all of us using the Qantas lounge before our Virgin Blue flight. At about 7:30 we went from the Qantas terminal into the Virgin Blue terminal to go and check out the Virgin Blue lounge. We had enough people who had taken up the Virgin Blue status match so there was enough of us to be guested into the Virgin Blue lounge. I didn’t take up the Virgin Blue status match offer and I have enough trouble and expense trying to keep one status going without trying to retain status in 2 airlines.

The Virgin Blue lounge was the old Ansett Golden Wing Lounge but it hasn’t changed much in the 8 or so years that Virgin has been using the lounge. Thankfully Virgin Blue is remodeling some of their lounges so I might have to go back and take another look. Virgin Blue do offer a day pass for their lounges.

The other travelers left to catch the 8:00am flight to Sydney, which left me in peace to read one of their magazines. The magazine selection was pretty hopeless compared to what Qantas have available. I did try to get on an earlier flight but Virgin said everything was running on time and since I didn’t have any status Virgin staff wasn’t able to move me to an earlier flight. The lounge staff called the flight and I went to the gate to get a picture and line up for boarding.




Most of the Virgin Blue 737s are fitted with TVs and you are able to watch the Live 2 Area system during boarding and during take-off before you are asked to swipe your credit card to pay for continued use of the IFE.



The cabin crew performed a better safety demonstration compared to the last time I flew Virgin almost 2 year ago now. The cabin was probably about 70% full. The crew offered buy on board but as I had already visited 2 lounges before the flight so I didn’t purchase anything.

The approach to Sydney was unusual for me as we headed out over the sea before landing towards to the north on the 2nd runway. The flight landed at 11:30am which would give me a good 30 minutes to transfer to the Qantas domestic terminal to then catch a shuttle bus to the international terminal. You can walk between the domestic terminals but the distance is a bit far to walk between the domestic and international terminals the other option would have been via train.

Most passengers are connecting from Qantas domestic flights to international services but you can transfer with Qantas as long as you have an onward depart on another Qantas group airline, including Jetstar. I have previous transferred from a Qantas domestic flight to a Singapore Airlines flight.

 

[Bundy Bear]

SYD-MEL JQ35 DEP 3:15PM A330-200 VH-EBE SEAT 44G
I caught up with a few friends at the Qantas domestic transfer lounge waiting for the bus across to the international terminal. I had received a text from a friend who was at the head of the queue. Jetstar open check in at the 3 hour mark. You got to make use of the First Class lounge when you can. When I made it across to the other terminal I found about 20 of us already lined up waiting for Jetstar check in to open.





Jetstar check in opened about 10 minutes after the 3 hour mark, We were the 2nd group inline and we were able to get a bulkhead row. We then proceeded in groups through security and passport control. When you have 20 or so of your friends it probably isn’t always a good idea to enter the lounge at the same time.
There are 2 groups of lounge attendants checking your eligibility to enter the lounge, as soon as you enter the lounge one agent checks your boarding pass before you go upstairs to another desk where they must enter the details on a computer.


Maybe it is a good way to make sure that they know which flight you are flying on today.
Our group of 4 were shown to a table to begin our 3 course lunch with regular alcoholic refreshments.
As more of our group entered the lounge the staff made the comment that there seems like a lot of Qantas Platinums on this flight we will have to make sure we make an early call.
After the flight was called we someone thought it would be a good idea to get a group photo.

A Jetstar A330-200 to take us to Melbourne.



The flight was almost 100% full.
The usual standard cabin crew announcements offering the usual BOB menu with Jetstar to Melbourne with continuing service to Denpasar.
Once we landed in Melbourne someone thought it would be good to organise another group photo.


Whenever there is a group FT/AFF gathering in Australia seems like I always have a camera on hand to take a few photos.

Once we cleared passport control it was a quick walk over to the Qantas domestic terminal for a few more drinks. Some were locals others were catching flights back to Sydney and few were staying in Melbourne for the night.
After spending a few hours in the Qantas Melbourne lounge the group that was left caught up for a real meal and stuck with water as the beverage as most of us had already had plenty of Qantas alcohol supply.

 

[Bundy Bear]

30 JAN 2011
MEL-CBR DJ267 DEP 11:00AM 737-700 VH-VUS SEAT 10A

Today was my return flight to Brisbane; first stop would be Canberra where Canberra is in the middle of a terminal rebuilding. Qantas have moved into the expanded new section while Virgin is based in the old section.

My initial plan was to get breakfast in the Qantas J lounge before my flight up to Canberra but I got a generous offer of breakfast at the Hilton. After checking out of the hotel Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport both hotels are within walking distance of the terminal, I headed over to the Qantas terminal.

Today’s plan was to use Qantas lounges in 3 states but not fly on any Qantas group airlines today using my Qantas Any time lounge access. I picked up a banana from the lounge to use has my snack on the flight up to Canberra.



I had check in via computer at the Qantas lounge the previous night but I didn’t print a copy as we were lead to believe that you could just print one from the check in kiosk.

That didn’t quite go as planned as the machine came up with an error saying see an agent. I proceeded through security and went to the gate agent and got a reprint, the grocery shopper docket style boarding card.


The flight was a quick 46 minutes up to Canberra. The plane was one of those rogue aircraft without the IFE and no premium economy. After landing in Canberra I had a quick look around the terminal.

I again tried to check in at the kiosk, interesting this one had a different software version as the check in sequence was different. After again getting an error I went over to see the check in desk. They checked me in and happy suggested that I could use the Virgin Blue lounge before my flight up to Brisbane.

Both airlines have check in set up in the new part of the terminal.



After wandering around the airport it was time to check out the Qantas Lounge. The place was very new as some parts weren’t completely finished. Do you know when you get that new car/home/plane smell; well this place had the new lounge smell.



Lunch offerings were pretty poor but found some soup and bread, and wondered what I would do with myself for the next 4 hours when another fellow Fter walked past. They were also enjoying the final few days of Qantas any time lounge access. As this Fter was a regular to the lounge they knew one of the staff who was only too happy to bring over as many drinks as we liked. Well not quiet but you get the idea.

 

[Bundy Bear]

CBR-BNE DJ1227 DEP 5:10PM E190 VH-ZPG SEAT 5A

After spending pleasant few hours in the Qantas lounge it was time to catch my Virgin Blue flight to Brisbane. The E190 would be a new plane type for me.




What is nice with the E190 is that it doesn’t fit a standard air bridge so it required a walk to the plane.

Seat lay out is 2 x 2 so each passenger has a window or an aislie with no dreaded middle seat to worry about. The DJ E190 don’t have any inflight entertainment either radio or IFE so I spent the time reading.



After landing back in Brisbane it was time for my 3rd Qantas lounge visit of the day.

Qantas were serving some of those mini pizzas, which don’t have many fans. Also on offer was rice with some chicken curry. The beer was in good supply in which to end the day.

I was able to guest into the Qantas J lounge some work colleagues who were flying up to Cairns that evening. Now that was probably the main benefit of the Qantas any time lounge access to allow people you were catching up with or who you were dropping them off at the airport to give them some idea on what it was like to travel on Qantas regularly.

 

[Lawlass]

Hee hee, good times at the Wake.

Thanks Bundy Bear.

 

[samh004]

Nice recap of the events of that day, no mention of making it an annual event though

 

[awilcockson]

Ah the memories. I seem to remember a lot of champagne being consumed in the F lounge in Sydney, I hate to think what the bill would have been for our table alone!

 

[TonyHancock]

Thanks for sharing, what a great report. sounds like you had a good couple of days.

 

[samh004]

Ah the memories. I seem to remember a lot of champagne being consumed in the F lounge in Sydney, I hate to think what the bill would have been for our table alone!

I recall a guesstimate of about $200 to $300 per person, at least for me and trippin_the_rift…

 

[Alanslegal]

Nice recap of the events of that day, no mention of making it an annual event though

I'm sure we'll do something in 2012

Let's look at dates - Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January 2012 - looks just perfect to me.

 

[kpc]

I'm sure we'll do something in 2012

Let's look at dates - Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January 2012 - looks just perfect to me.

These dates would work for me as well:idea: